OTTAWA – Conservative Sen. Pamela Wallin is expected to be the next player in the Senate-expenses spotlight, as auditors continue to examine her travel bill of more than $300,000 over the past three years. Here’s a catch-up:

Question: Are the stakes with Wallin higher than for the other audited senators who were told to pay back expense money – Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb?

Answer: Politically, yes. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed the former broadcaster to the upper chamber, robustly defended her spending in the House of Commons earlier this year.

“I have looked at the numbers. Her travel costs are comparable to any parliamentarian travelling from that particular area of the country over that period of time,” Harper told the House of Commons on Feb. 13. “For instance, last year Senator Wallin spent almost half of her time in the province she represents in the Senate. The costs are to travel to and from that province, as any similar parliamentarian would do.”

If the auditors were to conclude there was anything amiss, Harper’s words would come back to bite him.

Q: What prompted an audit of her spending?

A: In late February, the Senate said Wallin’s spending review was part of “periodic audits of selected senators’ expenses.”

But the senator who chairs the chamber’s internal economy committee, David Tkachuk, told the Globe and Mail that Wallin’s expenses appeared “very unusual” and an audit was ordered. Senate finance staff reportedly started to grow suspicious of her travel bills, which helped prompt the audit. According to a CTV report, the majority of Wallin’s trips were to Toronto. Wallin has said that she stops over in Toronto on her way to Wadena, Sask., and has to bill it as “other” travel, rather than “regular” travel, under Senate rules because it isn’t one continuous trip as required under regular travel rules.

Q: How much has Wallin spent on travel?

A: Since late 2010 (when expenses started being posted), Wallin has spent more than $338,000 on “other” travel, defined as any flight internationally or domestically that isn’t between Ottawa and the senator’s home town. That makes Wallin the top spender over that period — at least $110,000 more than the number two spender, Sen. Colin Kenny. Over the same period, Wallin has spent $30,631.17 on regular travel, trips directly between Ottawa and Saskatchewan.

Q: What do the Senate’s travel rules say?

A: When Wallin’s audit began, senators were given 64 travel points annually (the rules have changed since). One round trip between Ottawa and a senator’s home province is considered one point. Senators could also use their points to fly a dependent child, one of their office staffers, or someone providing the senator with medical assistance. They were allowed to take one international trip annually under the 64-point system, but needed to explain how it was related to their parliamentary duties. Additional international trips would have to be approved by the internal economy committee.

Q: What will the final audit say?

A: That isn’t clear, though rumours abound. Sources with knowledge of the audit process suggest the findings could be critical of the senator, who has declined comment until the audit is done.

Q: When will the final audit come out?

A: Senators on the internal economy committee of the upper chamber are impatient about the extended time it is taking auditors to file their final report. The committee had hoped to have the final report made public between now and the end of June but was recently told it may not see it until into the summer. The committee plans to haul the auditors onto the carpet this coming week to explain the delay.

Q: Duffy’s expenses were reimbursed. Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau have been ordered to repay about $100,000 combined. Could Wallin have to repay money as well?

A: Since the start of the audit, Wallin has paid back at least $30,000, according to a Senate source.

Q: How damaging politically could this be for Wallin?

A: Wallin has already recused herself from the Tory caucus. And she no longer chairs the Senate defence committee, though she left that for personal reasons to deal with an illness in her family.

Q: If her expenses were found to be improper, could the prime minister remove her from the Senate?

A: No. The prime minister has the power and constitutional obligation to appoint senators, but no direct power to remove them. The Senate, through a simple majority vote, can declare a seat vacant, but the upper chamber is leery about going down this road because the government majority in the Senate could pick off opposition senators at will.

Q: So she’s in the Senate until age 75?

A: Certainly at this point there’s no reason she couldn’t be. The RCMP is examining the audits on Duffy, Harb and Brazeau to see if a criminal investigation is warranted. If a senator is convicted of an indictable offence, with at least two years of jail time, he or she automatically loses the seat under the Constitution. The Senate also has the right to determine that a conviction for a summary (less serious) offence is tantamount to an indictable offence, and can boot the senator from office. But no one has found any of these senators – including Wallin – guilty of an offence.

Q: What about the constitutional requirement that senators be residents of the province they represent? Doesn’t her travel bill suggest she’s not in Saskatchewan enough?

A: Wallin has been on the record this past winter explaining just how frequently she is in Saskatchewan. In any case, the constitutional requirement is separate from expense questions. Expense issues fall under the Senate’s administrative rules — and her travel bill can’t be used against her in that way. However, the Senate can work to better interpret the term “resident,” something it hasn’t done, and see if Wallin is in compliance with that interpretation. The Senate’s internal economy committee currently says a senator has established where their primary residence is if a driver’s licence, health card, voting card and income tax return are in order.

Q: And what about the prime minister?

A: Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Wallin and Duffy to the Senate and the party employed both for fundraising and publicity purposes. He staunchly defended her in February, but recently said that if rules were broken, she wouldn’t be allowed back into the Tory caucus: “If she has in any way acted improperly, she will be subject to the appropriate authorities and the consequences for those actions,” Harper told the Commons on May 29. The opposition parties have peppered the prime minister with questions about the expense scandal and the $90,000 cheque his former chief of staff gave to Duffy. They are likely to renew their onslaught once Wallin’s audit is released, no matter what it shows.